Farmers are increasingly recognizing the need for spraying in their farming operations. For example, many farmers now spray herbicides for controlling weeds in the early growing season, and then later spray fungicides or insecticides during the later growing seasons.
High clearance type sprayers have a variety of configurations such as self propelled sprayers, truck mounted sprayers, tractor mounted sprayers, and pull-type sprayers. A typical sprayer includes a tank for holding a product desired to be sprayed, and a plurality of spray nozzles for dispensing the product from the tank. The spray nozzles are mounted on extended booms that project outward from opposite sides of the tank. It is common for each boom to have a length in the range of 60 to 120 feet. Hydraulic cylinders are commonly used to raise and lower the clearance height of the booms. Hydraulic cylinders are also commonly used to fold the booms for transport and storage, and to unfold the booms prior to conducting spraying operations.